Sixty Days (8 page)

I catch him staring at me as if he’s considering something. “What’s on your mind?” I finally ask him.

“You. Me. In our bed. I miss every single inch of you,” he says with a beautifully naughty smile, his dimples winking at me.

“I miss you
, too.”

“Can
we claim that you’re sick and leave?”

“Are you kidding me? The second Kevin hears I’m not feeling well he
will take me home himself.”

“What is his problem anyway? You’re old enough to take care of yourself. Why won’t he just let you be?”

“I don’t know. It’s suffocating,” I say with full resignation. “Hey…look!” I say to him, nodding to the dance floor where Mario is dancing with the blonde that dissed my brother.

“Damn! El gord
o has game. Kevin must be pissed,” Mickey exclaims totally impressed and proud of my cousin for getting the girl my brother couldn’t. “Good for him…and for us, now we know we will be alone for a while.” I can’t help but let out my full, glowing grin. He grasps my left hand within his and caresses it under the table. “What I would do to kiss you right now…”

“Behave
, Mr. Vega,” I playfully chide him.

“Honey,
you know I can’t do that when it comes to you.”

“Oh co
me on, you can’t be that cheesy,” I say to him while giggling at the same time making it barely understandable.

“How is that cheesy?”

“I don’t know.” I shrug.

“Do you ever know?
Anyway, how the hell are we gonna keep this up for over a month?”

“I don’t know, baby
. I do know that it’s not going to be easy. It’s been less than a week and it’s already so difficult. Maybe we can make-up having dates.”

“
I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off. I feel like I’m going to blurt something out and ruin everything.”

“So
, that’s the reason you’ve been quiet.”

“I’m just afraid
I’m going to say the wrong thing. It’s like they would wonder how the hell I know you so damn well for someone who hasn’t seen you in like eight years.”

“I think it
just looks like you can’t stand me. Trying to stay away from me, being awkward and short in conversation; the kind of things you do when you just want someone to go away.” I shrug, laughing. “Especially to Mary. She’s trying to sink her claws in.”

“Well you more than anyone know that’s not true. As for the rest of them, fuck them
.” He gazes into my eyes, a pensive look taking over his face. “Don’t worry about Mary, she doesn’t stand a chance.” He smiles.

“I don’t. I won’t. It’s just
annoying seeing her all over you like that. I mean can’t the girl take a hint?”

“I get it. It’s j
ust like my brother with you.” He grins.

“Oh my God! What’s up with that
?”

“
Want me to fight him for your honor?” he ask, jokingly. I can’t help but laugh. “Have I told you how hot you look tonight?”

“You haven’t
, but the expression on your face as soon as you saw me has. Thank you, by the way. You don’t look too bad yourself.”

Mickey caresses his legs with mine,
causing a rush of electricity to course through my body. I want him next to me. I want his lips kissing mine. I just want him, only him.

Chino and Mary are still
on the dance floor and it appears that they’ve found different partners. Mario is at the bar in full conversation with the blonde and Kevin, well I don’t know where he is. I look around the club, trying to spot him.

“Oh God!” Mickey exclaims
, suddenly interrupting my search. “What an idiot.” I look to where he’s looking and notice that a fight has just broke out. There’s a bunch of guys in the fight pit and it’s then that I realize that my brother is one of the guys fighting. “Fuck!” Mickey exclaims as he sees one of them punch my brother.

Fuck, indeed.

Chapter Four

“H

ey! Get
off of from him,” Mickey yells to the guys fighting my brother as he tries to stop the fight. Seriously, I don’t know what the hell Kevin is thinking fighting these idiots. Even worse, fighting these idiots alone. Out of nowhere one of the guys sucker punches Mickey, grabs him, and throws him to the floor. “Get away, Laylah. Go!” he yells over to me as soon as he sees me get closer to them. A part of me just wants to help him, both of them. I want to save them.

Micke
y gets up and returns the punch to the douche bag who hit him. I don’t know why, but my brother does nothing to defend himself. It’s like someone has him tied up.  No one is stopping him, yet he does nothing. Mickey is taking on the four idiots by himself. After a few minutes, the entire club is aware of the situation. In that exact moment, Chino comes over and helps Mickey.

I see Kevin on the floor and head
over to him. He seems to be in pretty bad shape. When I look up by my side, I notice Mary also heading toward him. Taking advantage of the fact that Kevin has crawled away from the fight, we manage to get him up into a standing position. His mouth and nose are covered in blood and there’s a pretty big possibility that he’ll have a black eye by tomorrow. To be honest, I don’t know how the hell I can help him. Even more, why the hell he didn’t defend himself? It’s official, my brother’s an idiot.

Security eventually comes
over and stops the fight.
By that point, no one even knows what they were fighting about and Kev won’t talk about it. Somehow, we are the ones who end up getting kicked out of the place and not the four morons. I go looking for Mario and find him near the door waiting for us. Mickey and Chino are a mess. Mickey has a cut on the lip from where he was punched the first time and a swollen cheek from the second blow. Chino got lucky, making it out with only a cut on his eyebrow. A cut that seems to be bleeding a lot. We get my coat and head out of the club.

“What the hell was that all about?” Mickey screams at Kevin as we head to the car.

“Shut up, Vega! I don’t wanna talk about that shit,” my brother yells back, barely able to stand because he’s in so much pain.

“The hell you are! I just got my ass kicked
in there and your sister almost got hit, too. All because of you. How can you be such an irresponsible idiot?” Mickey seems pretty steamed, especially since Kevin doesn’t seem to realize how fucked up the whole situation was.

“What? Laylah, are you ok?” Kevin
asks. Just like that, my brother is back.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. I
’m just worried about you. Thankfully, Mickey stopped it from becoming worse,” I say smiling to both of them.

“God! You’re an idiot.
Are you going to talk or what, Torres?” Mickey asks my brother as he tries to calm down.

“I was talking to th
is really hot chick. That was her boyfriend…or ex-boyfriend, I don’t know. He’s apparently either extremely jealous or extremely…” He shakes his head, as if getting rid of a bad image. “I don’t know, man. It all just happened so quick. Let’s just leave it at that, okay?” he says as he lets out a huge breath of air.

“I have a question,
” Mary says with her ‘I know it all’ face. “Why didn’t you defend yourself? Why let them beat you? I’ve seen you in other fights, you could of have taken them all, Kevin,” she accuses.

“I don’t want to
talk about it!” Kevin snaps, continuing to walk alone toward the car.

I find myself driving us back home in Mickey’s Tahoe.
As soon as we got to the vehicle he claimed he didn’t feel well and handed me the keys. Everyone looked confused by the exchange. He shook them off, telling them that he had a major headache and he knew I hadn’t been drinking. Really, I’m the only one who he trusts with his second love. He worked hard for it, so it’s understandable.

It’s one in the morning by the time we get home and
I park the car in front of my Jeep, like usual. We all pile out of the car and head into the main house. Considering past experiences, it’s safe to say that it was quite a short night. Normally whenever Mickey and I go out to a night club we don’t get home until three in the morning, or later. But, considering everything that happened today, it’s completely understandable.

Luckily, everyone is asleep by now and we are safe from all the questions that would’ve come once they saw Kev and Mickey’s
beaten up faces. Plus, the reprimands that would surely come after the constant questions. Along with some words of worry. It’s an emotional roller-coaster with this crazy family. But, through time you get used to it and learn that they do it because they care, because they love us.

The boys eventually head
off to bed, beat from the events of the day. Literally. Chino was pretty drunk, my brother not so much, and Mario, well, let’s just say his bed time had already passed. Mary also decided it’s time for bed and leaves along with Mario through the recently opened backyard, heading to the respective house they are staying in. As for me, I decide to go to the kitchen and get some water. My nerves are still a little shot, so I’m hoping a quick breather will calm them. Just as I’m about to leave the kitchen, Mickey comes in.

“You look awful,
” I say to him.

“
I feel awful,” he whines. If you ask him, he would deny it, but he definitely whined.

“Here…let me help you.” I head
over to the sink looking for the first aid kit. Finally finding it in the cabinets above, I wet a towel and move over to the breakfast bar where Mickey has taken a seat. I press the cloth against his wounds and begin to take care of him.

“I’m sorry
if it stings,” I say to him, smiling in reassurance.

“Don’t worry about it
, I’m a big boy.” He smiles back.

“Sure you are. Thanks, by the way,
” I mutter.

“For what?” he frowns.

“For defending Kev, for preventing one of those punches to come my way. I didn’t even notice.”

“I swear
, if one of those sons of a bitches laid a hand on you, I would of have killed them.”

“Well
, aren’t you the knight in shining armor,” I say, proud of the amazing man I have by my side. “Is it safe for us to be here, right now? We’re practically playing with fire.”

“Yeah,
Chino passed out as soon as he hit the bed and your brother is too beaten up to get up. Ouch!” He winces as I dab the cloth against his lip.

“Sorry,
” I mumble.

“
I’m fine,” he says, resting his beautiful face in my hands. “I’ve missed your warm touch.”

“You and me
both.” We both smile and stare into each other’s eyes as I caress his face. Wanting, but not moving, not risking.

“T
here. All done,” I say, breathily.

“Tha
nk you for taking care of me.” He pulls me toward him and wraps his strong arms around my waist, resting his head on my chest near my heart. I rejoice on the tranquility of his touch.

“A
lways,” I whisper, keeping him close to me and to my heart. He lifts his head and kisses me slowly, passionately, like it’s the last kiss we’ll ever share. I could happily die this way, with him holding me in his arms.

A sudden noise pulls us out of our embrace.
I had lost all sense of time and had no idea how long we’d been here. I can only pray that whoever it is hasn’t seen much.

“Dios mi
o! What in the heavens happen to you?” Lola asks, concern heavy in her eyes as she looks over Mickey’s face.

“Jesus,
Ma’! You scared the shit out of us,” Mickey says with a scowl.

“Hey, lenguaje! And don’t give me that face
. What happened Miguel? Who did this to you?” she asks, her tone authoritative, clearly coming from a woman that has had to deal with raising three boys.

“Nothing…” he says
, taking a deep breath. But, one look at his mother and he spills everything that happened, down to the last detail. That’s one of the many things I admire about Lola. One firm look in the eyes and, without realizing it, you are telling her your deepest, darkest secrets. 

That’s how
the Vega brothers always found themselves in deep water. Also explains how she knew Mickey and I were a couple as soon as she laid eyes on us. There was no way of denying it to her.

“Dios mío! Sometimes I wonder what I’m going to
do with these two boys of mine,” Lola exclaims while looking up to the ceiling.

“Oh good, y
ou guys are up! Are you going with us?” Mom asks, heading directly to the coffee machine. The woman just can’t function without her caffeine. “What happened to your face?” she asks, noticing Mickey’s face. Her eyes land on me with a frown.

“Long story, I was
just taking care of his wounds. I was DD tonight,” I say with a smile.

Ok, to
o obvious. I need to play it cool.

“I see…” That’s it, the goddamn woman either knows or is beginning to suspect something.

“I should probably hit the hay
. Good night, or is it good morning? Whatever…” I say nervously, heading for the door.

Get a grip, Lai!

“I shall do the same, ladies…migraine,” Mickey says as he gets up, pointing to his head and walking right behind me.

“You two behave now,
” mom calls, smiling after us.

Oh yeah…the woman definitely knows.

“That was close. I totally forgot it was black Friday,”
Mickey says while entering my room and scaring the hell out of me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask
, my voice squeaky.

“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” he asks,
frowning at me, his face full of confusion.

I just glare at him pointing
out the obvious elephant in the room. “Awww….shit, baby, I forgot.  I want you next to me in bed. I want to wake up next to you. I love watching you sleep so peacefully, then seeing you wake up so grumpy and adorable. I miss the way you lean your head on my chest while we are sleeping and how our breaths synchronize. I just…after tonight…” He sighs, breaking his train of thought.

“Can I
stay here? I promise to be out of here before anyone else notices,” he says, giving me the biggest puppy dog eyes.

How could I say no
to that? I just wish, I could be less of a coward and tell everyone about us.  But, I know if I do things won’t end well for him or our relationship. My dad won’t approve and my brother will kill him. I’d probably do the same if I ever find out Kev is dating my best friend. It’s a good thing that my best friend is this wonderful man standing right in front of me.

Pulling out of my mental scowl
, I finally nod, accepting his plead. He gifts my acquiesce with his beautiful dimples that make me melt into a mushy puddle of sentiment.

“Come here
, baby, and plant a big one,” he says while reaching out to me and pointing to his mouth. With his hands on my hips, I stretch to the tip of my toes and wrap my arms around his neck, closing the small gap between us. What starts as a slow, tantalizing kiss quickly turns into want and need. His tongue teases my mouth, begging for entrance. I happily oblige and deepen the kiss. Our hands move to each other’s hair, desperate to be closer, needing more. Suddenly, my feet are no longer on the floor but wrapped around his waist.

“I love you
, so much,” I breathlessly whisper to him, breaking our kiss for a tiny second.

“I love you too, Lai,” he replie
s, planting a kiss on the tip of my nose. His lips move to plant a kiss on my forehead and I close my eyes at the gesture. He kisses both eyelids before finally connecting us nose to nose, forehead to forehead, and reaching for my mouth once again.

“Now…
how in the world did I end up here?” I teasingly ask him, breaking our kiss once more.